My Sweet Summer Is Gone

Remember when I did the post about places I biked to over the summer? That's not all I did!  Beginning last Spring, my husband and I hiked every Sunday morning until October. We did miss a few weeks, due to significant rain, and we also repeated a few trails because of mud, but for the most part, we tried to find new places and things to see and we had a blast doing it.  Now that the brutal winter is upon us, enjoy these sights of summer. **Please note: None of these photos are my own.**

We took the Buckeye Trail to Blue Hen Falls. The Buckeye Trail is over 1400 miles long and can be rugged in spots. You often see backpackers hiking the trail. Before we started out, I was looking up the waterfall (which is located in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park) and found a website called 'Unknown waterfalls in the national parks.' I was so excited to discover that there was another waterfall near this one that I had never heard of! We even asked about it at one of the park offices, and they told us, "We don't recognize that waterfall because you have to cross over the creek three times, so we don't advise it." Since when does a national park discourage people from going into the water? Have they never heard of the Narrows of Zion??

And since when do I follow advisories? Here it is: Buttermilk Falls. We followed the directions that I had found online and continued into the woods, past the sign at Blue Hen that said, 'End of Trail.' It was easy to follow the footpath at first, but I will admit, once we hit the SHALLOW CREEK, it was a little harder to follow, without markers. We ended up following the sounds of voices and the actual waterfall. There were people there that looked like they were in their 70's, so I can assure you, it was not a treacherous hike. It was a beautiful waterfall and we were able to almost walk right up to it and then go to the top and look down.

 

 

This was our first hike, in April. It's called Daffodil Trail. It's less than a mile walk through the woods, but there are supposedly 40,000 daffodils along the way, with many different varieties. We took Middle Child on this one.

This turned out to be one of our dud hikes. It's called Deep Lock Quarry. This was all there was to see. I guess I was expecting more.

During a metropark hike, we discovered this swinging bridge. I felt dizzy after crossing it.

One of our walks that wasn't in the woods. This was Tree Farm Trail. I wasn't a fan due to areas that were not mowed, plus it was a little claustrophobic.  However, the view near the end was nice:

The overlook of the Christmas tree farm

Not a new trail for me, but it was for my husband. Old Carriage Trail is a more difficult hike in the national park. One of the neat features is its history (passes an Indian burial ground) and the three bridges over steep ravines.

Unfortunately, the trail is closed because the bridges have been condemned. It's also a long hike (about 9 miles to the car and back). I had intended to just hike the trail till we got to the first bridge and then turn around, but my husband insisted, "We can do this!"

So, on top of the long hike, we climbed up and down three ravines that day. This is the view of the same bridge from the bottom.  Out of all the hikes, this was the one I was most proud of completing.

Another long hike we took was from the park's former youth hostel to the most popular waterfall in the national park. Once you get to the waterfall, this path that hugs the rock leads you to it:

This is Brandywine Falls. Many people get married in that circular spot facing the falls. There is even a bed and breakfast within a five minute walk. It's a beautiful area.

This might be one of my favorite spots out of any hike. It's a long tree tunnel on the Plateau Trail.  Very, very cool!

This is not really a gas station. It is located next to the Boston Store that I wrote about last summer. We were hiking on the towpath and noticed that it was holding an art show that day, so we stopped in. There were gorgeous watercolors and oil paintings of all of the national parks. A delightful find that day!

I hope you enjoyed some pieces of my summer. I can't wait for Spring 2015!